WTTW stores face bankruptcy

The future of the six Chicago-area branches of the WTTW Store of Knowledge could be in jeopardy.

California-based Store of Knowledge Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

WTTW-TV/Channel 11 licenses its name to the Store of Knowledge, which owns and operates the nationwide chain. Store of Knowledge had suffered dismal holiday sales during the past two years and had difficulty securing additional lines of credit, a WTTW spokeswoman said on Monday.

She did not know whether all of the Chicago stores will be closing their doors, and said Store of Knowledge Inc. would be deciding their fate. The stores sell an array of educational merchandise, including toys, games and videos.

Repeated calls to Store of Knowledge corporate headquarters were not returned on Monday. Also on Monday, the company's Web site was temporarily shut down, stating only that, "All orders that have been placed are being processed and shipped."

WTTW makes 1% in royalty from every item sold in the six local stores bearing its name. The public television station also has a 3% equity stake in the entire company. Last year, the six-store group had revenues of $12 million, with about $120,000 going directly to the Chicago-based station.

"The sad part is that our stores were doing very well," said the WTTW spokeswoman, noting that the stores were ranked among the top five highest grossing Store of Knowledge locations nationwide. "We didn't make a killing on (the arrangement), but we could put that money into programming and operating WTTW. They were a good reflection on us."